Dream, Bitterness Haunt Navy Veteran

Pearl Harbor - 50 YEARS LATER

ORMOND BEACH — Bill Brady saw naval battles in the Pacific that took more American lives than the 2,400 lost at Pearl Harbor.

He went through the long, bloody campaign to take Guadalcanal in 1942 and 1943. He was with the Marines when thousands were killed at Iwo Jima in 1945.

But nothing haunts him like those first few moments when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.

''I guess it's just embedded in my mind,'' Brady said. ''In one or two hours, I went from an innocent, fun-loving, hail-fellow-well-met kid from the coal country of Pennsylvania into an embittered veteran.''

For most of the year, Brady goes about his life free of the nightmare. But when Dec. 7 approaches, the nightmare returns:

A severed arm floats in the water of Pearl Harbor as oil slicks begin to spread from crippled and sinking ships.

''I had never seen an arm - you know, without a body - before,'' Brady, 69, said. He was three days past his 19th birthday when he first saw the arm. It was about 8 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941.

''I still dream about that arm,'' he said. ''I don't dream about it all year. Then, in December, I get calls and I get asked about it and I remember.''

Brady, a native of Scranton, Pa., had been in the Navy about a year before the attack. He was a seaman first class and radio operator on the Antares, an amphibious supply ship. Pearl Harbor was his home port.

The Antares' crew members were among the first Americans to suspect that the Japanese had targeted Pearl Harbor, Brady said. The ship had been on a mission early Sunday, accompanied by the Ward, a destroyer.

Shortly after 6 a.m., the Ward discovered a Japanese miniature submarine, a small boat with two crew members that had been sent out ahead of the attacking fleet.

An hour later, the Antares was in dock, and Brady was sent over to a light cruiser, the Helena, to get a radio part. Brady boarded the Helena about 7:30 a.m.

Waiting for the Helena's radio room to open, Brady joined some of the crew for coffee and enjoyed the balmy morning near Honolulu.

''There were 10 or 12 of us sitting around batting the breeze,'' he said. ''It was a nice, bright Sunday morning. Everybody was at peace with the world.''

The peace was to last 20 minutes. At 7:50 a.m., the group on the Helena heard aircraft coming over the harbor.

''We watched them come in,'' Brady said. ''Everybody was thinking what I was thinking - that they were our own aircraft coming in from (aircraft carriers) the Enterprise and Lexington.''

The planes were coming in low and fast, violating air safety rules. Several in the group on the Helena were predicting that the pilots would be in trouble for carelessness when they landed.

''Then the planes began to peel off from formation. The torpedo bombers started coming in low,'' Brady said. ''And then the dive bombers pulled out, and all hell broke loose.''

Helena crew members started running for their battle stations. Brady tried to leave to get back to his own ship, but a Helena officer stopped him and put him to work loading an anti-aircraft gun.

A torpedo struck the Helena. ''The ship seemed to jump out of the water, and we knew we were hit,'' Brady said.

The ship settled lower in the water but did not sink. A wooden ship docked next to the Helena was was blown apart.

As the Helena settled in the water, Brady looked down and saw the arm.

He also could hear explosions from about 3,000 yards away where the huge battleships Oklahoma, California and Arizona were being sunk.

It was over within two hours, Brady said. The Japanese planes left behind the smoking wreckage of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The planes also left a burning hatred in Brady's heart that is not fully extinguished after 50 years: ''I'm going to die bitter.''

After its defeat, Japan, with American help, has gained the world economic power it had tried to get through military victory. That galls Brady.

''If you come to my house and drive a Toyota, don't park it in my driveway,'' he said. ''I'm just that way. I'll always be that way. I guess I have the right.''

After leaving the Navy in 1946, Brady returned to Pennsylvania and became an insurance adjuster. He moved to Ormond Beach in 1977 and retired last year.

Brady, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1590, is organizing a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack.

He is trying to find Central and North Florida area survivors. So far, five survivors, including Brady, are scheduled to appear at the commemoration.

The ceremony begins 11 a.m. Saturday at the VFW headquarters by the intersection of Mason Avenue and Nova Road, Daytona Beach. U.S. Rep. Craig James, R-DeLand, will give commemorative medals to the survivors.

Seabreeze High School's band will perform. Three Navy helicopters will fly over the ceremonies at 12:55 p.m., which corresponds to 7:55 a.m. Honolulu time, the moment the bombs began to fall.

Brady said it is a moment that is fading into history books for younger generations.

''You talk to kids in high school and say 'Pearl Harbor,' and they ask 'Who's she?' '' he said. ''They didn't see what we saw.